Coming Home

Bill missed the Kingsport Lions Club Turtle Derby again this year as did this group of red eared sliders.

Purple Pickrel Weed along the side of Bull Creek.

Swamp rose growing where you would expect it to grow; in the cypress swamp along the Waccamaw River in South Carolina.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Lately it occurs to me, what a long strange trip it’s been.

We are back home in Kingsport after being away for just over four months. The house survived in our absence. The exploding population of spiders and bugs did a good job of looking after the place for us.

Takes time - you pick a place to go and just keep Truckin on.

The trip north on the ICW was very pleasant. In Palm Beach we bought groceries, in Jensen Beach we waited out some high winds, in Melbourne we had a quiet night, in Titusville we did the laundry, in Daytona we anchored of the sewer plant, and in St. Augustine we spent the day touristing with Josh and the very pregnant Julia. From there it was Fernandina Beach where we tied to a mooring ball only to be told by the marina that our boat was too big; a problem that was easily fixed by anchoring nearby thus saving us the mooring ball fee. A quick run to St. Marys got us back into Georgia and gave us a place to sit out a frontal passage. In the Frederica River we anchored for the night just out of the waterway after being blasted by a thunderstorm and marbles of hail. We fueled the boat for the last time in Richmond Hill, GA and anchored in Birthday Creek although it was no one’s birthday. We made it through the famously shoal waters of Georgia without touching the bottom even once and entered South Carolina anchoring in Skull Creek behind Hilton Head Island. Figuring that it would become unbearably busy Memorial Day weekend, we sailed (and motored) to Beaufort anchoring off the town to do a little shopping, eat a restaurant meal, take in the Gullah Festival ($20 per person per day), and wait for everyone else to go back to work leaving the waterway for us. Anchored in the Ashley River off Charleston we had excellent WiFi from the nearby Mega Dock where the mega yachts were paying mega bucks for it. Georgetown got us the first full day of rain on the whole trip, so we stayed two nights, stayed dry, and bought scollops and fish from the nearby shrimpers. Bull Creek on the Waccamaw River was gorgeous with the spring flowers in the cypress swamp and brought our count of alligators sighted up to three. Little River, SC gave us another couple of marina nights (for a total of 11 for the whole trip) while we visited with Elaine, JP, Kenny, and Mary Ellen. Most importantly, we got a new working autopilot which freed us again from constantly steering the boat. An early departure gave us high water in the Shallotte and Lockwood’s Folly Inlets, but gave us a 2 or 3 knot contrary current in the Cape Fear River slowing us to a crawl. In Wrightsville Beach, NC we had our first midnight anchor drill when we bumped another boat on the tide change and had to move. In Mile Hammock Bay we got to see the US Marines run their boats onto the mud banks to practice towing them off again (and they needed the practice). We are better at it then they are. We anchored on June 4th in Cedar Creek off the Neuse River where we spent our first night out on February 4th exactly four months before to the day. In the morning we sailed back to New Bern and into the heat wave. With a forecast of 100° temperatures for the next few days and the boat’s air conditioner in Kingsport, we decided to forgo all the jobs on our maintenance list, to miss the Cherry Point Air Show, and to miss the marina’s spring breakfast party and hurricane seminar. We packed up and left on a four hour drive to Salisbury, NC to see Bill’s father and family and enjoy their air conditioning before coming back home to Kingsport.

Back home - sit down and patch my bones and get back Truckin on.

We had a wonderful trip and are still speaking to one another. A four month cruise was a great way to celebrate our 35th married year. Wonder what we should do for our 36th?

Exumas to Beaufort, SC

Capt'n Bill at the navigation desk.

The lighthouse in the east entrance to Nassau Harbour.

Our route through the Bahamas.

The Spanish hand over the Castillo San Marcos, and the rest of Florida, to the British.

May 25, 2008

We are back in the USA. Bill has been singing the Beatles tune “Back in the USSR” but with his own words. Between his singing and his words the effect is nearly unbearable especially on this small boat.

We left Warderick Wells in the Exumas Park on May 5th and headed back north along the bank to Norman’s Key. We anchored off the west side of Norman’s and went to MacDuff’s Beach Bar for a beer (or two…) and supper. I had fish fingers which were Mahi-Mahi (dolphin fish) caught that day. I saw a picture of the fisherman who caught the fish, and since he was in the bar, congratulated him on an excellent fish. It really was good! Bill had a huge cheeseburger with fries while thoughts of Jimmy Buffet drifted through his head and ketchup drooled from his chin.

We left Norman’s Cay the next morning and sailed the 50 miles to Nassau dodging the coral heads poking up from the white sand twenty feet below the boat along the way. We anchored in the harbor but did not even get off the boat. We had heard horrible tales of thieves swimming out to anchored boats. Some said it was best to keep the boat locked and the alarm system turned on (we don’t have such a thing) even when you were on board! Maybe one day we will go back and stay in a fancy resort, or maybe not. Our anchor was up early, and we were off across the Tongue of the Ocean to Chub Cay in the Berry Islands. We were making such good time with the wind on the quarter that Captain Bill convinced me we could keep on sailing, cross the Grand BahamaBank at night, and make it to Bimini early the next morning. So we kept on going. This was my first overnight sail. It wasn’t too bad; just not a lot to see after the sun went down. The moon set about 9pm, and after that it was dark. But, beside the red and green running lights reflected in the bow rail, you could see thousands of stars overhead and the phosphorescent wake of the boat behind us; very impressive.

We arrived in Bimini Harbour and tied up in Weech’s Marina by about 11am. Bill chose Weech’s because it was the first marina we came upon and there was a sailboat tied to the outer dock. (It was also the cheapest marina listed in the guidebook.) The one sailboat left after we talked with them leaving us as the only large boat in the marina. Both of us took a short nap then went out for some sightseeing. Ernest Hemingway used to hang out here in Alicetown with his fishing buddies. One of his haunts was the Compleat Angler Bar. We thought we would have a drink in this famous bar, but when we got there we found that, alas, it burned to the ground in 2006. Not so much as a toothpick of wood remained. We later went to the Anchorage Inn, another Hemingway hangout, for dinner. The view was outstanding, but the food was so-so. In December 2007 the Bimini locals rioted after a police shooting in a bar and burned the police barracks and the police boats. We could still feel the tension in the air. From the look of things, I think a lot of drugs were flowing freely there in Alicetown!

The weather forecast for Saturday was excellent; we couldn’t ask for better to cross the Gulf Stream. As soon as the sun was up, we untied ourselves from the dock at Weech’s and headed across the Gulf Stream for Palm Beach Florida 75 miles away. In the Florida Straits the sun was out, the sky was clear, the wind was light, the seas flat, the autopilot was in charge, and all was well on Irish Eyes. We saw a Coast Guard cutter five miles away headed in the opposite direction and didn’t think much about it. When the cutter turned around and started following us, we got a little paranoid. We were watching them on the radar and discussing their maneuvers when we heard, “Sailing vessel Irish Eyes this is Coast Cutter Diligence.” over the VHF radio. (They could read the name on our stern, but we could hardly see them in the haze.) We responded and were told to prepare for an administrative boarding party. We were to maintain our course and speed and the boarding vessel would be with us shortly. An inflatable boat with about a dozen armed men came along side us. Two of the men jumped aboard Irish Eyes, and I do mean jumped. They were very nice. The peered in the boat’s bilges, checked the flares and horn, looked at the life jackets, counted the fire extinguishers, examined the boat papers, and copied the numbers from Bill’s passport. But, I just sat there. They didn’t even ask me my name before they left. It all added a little excitement to our trip.

We made landfall at Lake Worth Inlet about 5pm without any further ado. (And, without so much as a single nibble on the two lures we trailed all the way across from Bimini.) Our original plan was to be in Florida by May 15th. We ended up being five days early, but with the good weather window, it was the time to go across.

As we were approaching the inlet, a small oil tanker was leaving. Bill went just outside the red edge of the channel to give the guy lots of room. All was well until the tanker turned 180° in the channel and started back into Lake Worth keeping us under its bows for the full turn. We were more than a little worried because in addition to the ship behind (and above) us we were surrounded by a cloud of small motor boats and jet skis. The tanker was just getting into position to come alongside its unloading dock, but we did not know it at the time. The motor boats and jet skis were another tale. We had to navigate around Peanut Island, a popular spot with sand beaches for Saturday afternoon boaters to meet, drink, and party. Unfortunately, between the booze and horsepower, it was like driving down the interstate with cars weaving in and out of the lanes except there were no lanes. The cops were there and even had a police paddy wagon boat on the scene, but that did not slow the party down. Welcome to Florida! It was a shock after two months of laid back island life. We quickly fled a couple of miles north, anchored in the northern end of Lake Worth, and had our usual hook down drinks. This time they were doubles!

When a US registered boat comes back into the United States, they must call an 800 phone number to obtain entry clearance. Before we left the US we bought a Homeland Security decal for $27. This was supposed to speed our clearance into the US. We had our sticker, so we thought we would just make the phone call and that would be the end of it all. Wrong. First, we had a half hour of “Your call is important to us…”. Then when a person finally came on the line, we were given an arrival number and told we had 24 hours to report in person to the Palm Beach Airport Immigration Office. Okay, no problem. We got up Sunday morning, took the dinghy over to shore, locked it to a fence, walked to Wendy’s, called a cab, and waited. Our cab arrived with a Haitian driver. That was a good thing as he knew exactly where to take us and what to do. The Immigration Office was a separate building from the air terminal. Nobody was in line when we got there, so our driver said he would wait. We got to the window, rang the bell, a uniformed officer opened the door a crack, took our Ziploc bag of boat documents and passports and said, “Be right back”. He wasn’t joking! We waited outside, and less than two minutes later, he cracked the door open again and handed us back our plastic bag of papers and told us we were cleared. Nobody ever inspected the boat, asked us any questions, or held up our passports to see if the photos matched our faces. The passports were not even stamped. I now feel very safe knowing these procedures were in place! It cost us $110 in cab fare to enter our home country! Oh well, somebody thought this system was a good idea.

We left Palm Beach after a quick trip to the grocery store and began our journey north. After a night in Daytona Beach, we stopped off in Titusville at the municipal marina to do the laundry, fill the water tanks, and wash the salt off the boat. Bill made his obligatory trip to the local West Marine store, and we had a restaurant meal ashore. The manatees were still there swimming around the boat and drinking the water that leaked from the dripping faucet on the dock. We continued north to St. Augustine to meet Julia and Josh. They brought us the new supply of books we had ordered from Amazon the week before. They also took us shopping at Sailor’s Exchange, Winn Dixie, and Radio Shack. We took them to a restaurant on St. George Street for lunch, to the Castillo San Marcos for a tour, and to the Sana Maria Restaurant for supper. We played tourist ourselves in St. Augustine for two days and went to church on Sunday for the first time since January.

From St. Augustine we motored north on the ICW to Fernandina Beach where after some confusion we anchored for the night in the Bell River across from the town. The next day we made a short journey to St. Marys, Georgia to wait out some forecast high winds. As we continued on our way north, we also anchored behind red daymark 222 north of Brunswick, in an unnamed creek near Richmond Hill, and in Skull Creek at Hilton Head Island. We are now in Beaufort, SC for the Memorial Day weekend just being lazy, walking around town, taking in the Gullah Festival, doing a little shopping, and reading our new books. We hope to be in New Bern (and maybe Kingsport) by June 15th. That’s as far as we have planned. I have to pinch myself every now and then to believe we have really made this amazing journey. Life really is good!

In the Exumas

Three younger members of the Allen's Cay iguana herd relaxing on the beach.

The wrecked drug smuggling airplane at Norman's Cay.

Some of the scattered coral heads in the harbor at Warderick Wells Cay.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Greetings from the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park. We arrived here Saturday afternoon in time for the weekly beach party. You know, cruisers are a very different sort. Interesting, but different, really different. But, I am jumping ahead…

We were anchored in the harbor at Ship Channel Cay at my last writing. Since we bumped the bottom on the way in, we decided it would be best to go out in the dinghy and do some sounding, a little exploring, to find the best path back out. We really worked at this making two different trips at low tide. Well, in spite of knowing for sure where the deep water was, we bumped the bottom on the way out. Unfortunately, this time on rocks not sand! What a horrible sound, lead on rock! We finally bounced off the rocks, powered through the sand, and made it out into deep water. We were on our way although missing some bottom paint but with no real damage.

After that little adventure we needed a rest. Fortunately, our next anchorage was not far away. We were on ‘Island Time’ so we didn’t sail too far (6 nm). We went into the anchorage at Allen’s Cay. There are iguanas on the cay, lots of iguanas, lots of big iguanas. They really are quite homely. Some are very large, some are smaller, but I thought they were all creepy. You have seen them. They are the dinosaurs in the old grade B black and white movies. The man and woman from the motor boat anchored ahead of us took their beach chairs and umbrella over to the beach to sit and read while twenty or so iguanas stood in a circle around them and watched expecting to be fed. I don’t think I could concentrate with a herd of iguanas watching me! They were really weird.

We stayed at Allen’s Cay for two nights and then moved to Norman’s Cay, first anchoring on the banks side for a night then moving to the better protected south end of the cay for the next two nights. Norman’s Cay was once the home of drug king Carlos Ledher. Ruined buildings line the south end of the island; some with bullet holes. Apparently, this cocaine smuggling business operated for about fifteen years ending sometime in the eighties. One of his pilots made use of some of the cargo, was overloaded, or just missed the landing strip (choose your story) , and wrecked his C-46 nearby. It is partially submerged on the south side of the cay. It makes for a nice snorkeling spot. There are so many fish that it is obvious that some island adventure company must bring people out to photograph the airplane, see the fish, and feed them. The Sergeant Majors were like the blue gills on Watauga Lake; very friendly. With the drug operation gone things are more normal, and the north end of the island has roads and houses. The 3000 ft airstrip is still in use, and we saw several planes come and go. There is a nice beach club on the banks side of the island serving good food and cold beer. We enjoyed an evening of both! While we were anchored at the south end of the cay, the wind blew pretty hard as a weak cold front came through.

We left Norman’s Cay and headed into the Exuma Land and Sea Park. You aren’t allowed to fish, shell, or harvest anything within the park boundaries. Most of the cays are uninhabited although there are some privately held cays within the park boundaries. This area is very different from the Abacos. There are fewer towns, the islands are hilly, and the water unbelievably blue and clear. We sailed about 7 miles to the west side of Shroud Cay. Shroud is uninhabited and has several winding creeks leading from the west to the east side. We took two dinghy trips into the creeks and through the mangrove swamp that fills the interior of the cay. The red mangroves have tenacious roots. They look like long legs bending at the knee growing outward then down into the water. There is a natural fresh water well on the top of a limestone hill near the anchorage, and Bill made three dinghy trips carrying water back to fill our tanks. (No Julia, there weren’t any floating bits, but then again, the water was an almost bourbon brown.) We saw our first tropic birds here. These arelarge white gull-like birds with two very long tail feathers that trail behind them in flight.

Our next long (?) day was a 5 mile sail to a beach on the west side of Hawksbill Cay. This uninhabited island has beautiful beaches on both sides with a nice trail from one side to the other. On our hike back from the east side beach to the west side beach and Irish Eyes I saw a snake! There are only three kinds of snakes in the Exumas, two are boa constrictors and one is a brown racer. I found a brown racer. Those who know me know that I really don’t like snakes! Hawksbill Cay has some ruins from a 1785 Loyalist plantation. We walked up another trail to see those ruins. I wasn’t impressed, and I didn’t like the prickly tropical flora that was along the trail, so I let Bill explore while I went back to the beach.

Saturday we actually did sail a fair distance, 15 miles, to the park headquarters here in Warderick Wells. The park has provided 22 mooring balls in a protected harbor in front of their headquarters office. The deep water is a J shaped channel with dry sand flats (at low tide) in the middle and along all the edges. At low tide the sand is dry about 2 feet behind Irish Eyes. You could step off onto dry land. If Bill had chosen this spot to anchor I would have said he was crazy! With the boat moored, we went off to an evening appetizers-and-drinks party on the beach.

Sunday we piddled around most of the morning (maybe that had something to do with the rum punch a crew of Frenchmen brought to the previous night’s beach party) and didn’t get off the boat until noon. We took a hike across the island through a mangrove swamp and up Boo Boo Hill. Boo Boo Hill is named for the sounds that the ship wrecked ghosts make on full moon nights. On the top of the hill is a driftwood stack made by boaters who leave a piece of wood with their name and date as an offering to the fair weather gods. Warderick Wells Cay is all limestone and sand. Part of the trail is climbing over sharp pointed limestone rocks. My $1.99 flip-flops did great; they did not die and neither did I. The sun was intense, shining both down on us and back up from the rocks. A two hour noontime hike was plenty for me! While I was grilling supper, I watched as a shark and a school of horse eyed jacks swam circles around the boat. We also have our own resident four foot barracuda keeping us company in the shade under the boat.

Today we were a little smarter. We left Irish Eyes at 9am before it got quite so warm and sunny. We hiked through tropical forest across the island and back and along several beaches. I was fine until one of the informative signs explained that in that one section of the woods, boa constrictors could sometimes be seen stretched out along the branches of trees sunning themselves. I walked fast, very fast through that spot! This afternoon we snorkeled along the small reefs on the sound side of the island. We saw lots of large fish and several lobsters, but we can’t fish for anything because it is a park. Today I am recuperating from my last two busy days by drinking some of Captain Bill’s Rum Punch. We are on beer rations as we are almost out! [Four cans are left, much as I had earlier predicted. Bill]

Our plan is to begin a slow trip north. We will head back up the Exumas, over to Nassau, on to the Berry Islands, then to Bimini and back to Florida. But, you know what Bill always says, “If you want to make God laugh, make a plan”. We have a plan; next we will see how it goes.

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From the Abacos to the Exumas

We could easily watch Irish Eyes's shadow move across the white sand and grass bottom 20 feet below the boat.

The limestone cliffs on the south end of Ship Channel Cay are 50 feet high and filled with caves.

Bill collected these floats (and a bicycle tire inner tube) while walking a mile down the beach.

Luckily for this fellow lobster season ended March 31. Notice the water is clear as glass.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

We have successfully made another 50+ mile passage on the Atlantic Ocean. This one was very different and far more pleasant than our Gulf Stream crossing. We left Marsh Harbor headed south for Little Harbor. Part way there we anchored at Lynyard Cay to wait for high tide. Little Harbor is a very interesting place. It has a shallow entrance channel, hence the need to wait for high tide, but we got through it without any problems. The settlement has a beach bar called Pete’s Pub, an art gallery, and a foundry! They cast statues in bronze at the foundry which are for sale in the gallery. There are a few houses, an abandoned lighthouse, but not much else. We enjoyed our two days there just looking around, but I didn’t buy the really neat table with a glass top supported by bronze sea birds. I thought it was really striking, but we don’t have room for it on Irish Eyes.

We left Little Harbor on Sunday morning with the sun rising. (Yes, for you who doubt it, I have the photographs to show that I saw the sun rise.) We motored south to Royal Island in Eleuthera. The seas were about 2 feet and the wind though on the nose was gentle… no crashing waves on the side of Irish Eyes and no spray coming over the dodger. It was my kind ofAtlantic passage. We made the crossing following two other boats that are travelling together. We kept in touch with both along the way. We caught two Crevalle Jacks but nothing else. I am beginning tothink we aren’t good fisherman. Bill took a sextant sight of the sun, and three tankers crossed our path; two ahead and one behind.

We arrived at Royal Island, came into the harbor, put down the anchor, and I cooked the two fish for supper. I used Robert’s fish and vegetables in foil on the grill method. It was a good supper and far more than we could eat. The moon Sunday was full. Moonrise was beautiful. You can’t beat a tropical full moon rising over the palm trees!

Monday we weighed anchor and headed for the Exumas. This was another long day, first through Current Cut, then across the open water without much to see except the absolutely clear blue water. I would not have believed it, but the water in the Exumas is even clearer than in the Abacos. I could see the starfish walking on the bottom when the water was 20 feet deep. Incredible! We also could see the coral heads from a quarter mile away and could easily dodge them.

We anchored the first night on the bank west of Ship Channel Cay then moved into the harbor because the wind was forecast to change direction. The entrance was both shallow and narrow. We bumped on the way in; even at high tide. We have now been anchored in the harbor for the last 3 days. There is a “Powerboat Adventures” camp on the island but not anything else. They bring people out for the day from Nassau and feed them lunch. We snorkeled on the reef on the Exuma Sound side of the island and walked on the mile long pink sand beach. Bill found quite a collection of fishing floats. I made him tell me exactly how he was going to use them and where he intended to store them. Since he didn’t want to use any for a pillow, he left them behind. I know, I know, he would have found a use for the floats some day, but storage is at a premium! We swam off the beach to the nearby reef where I found a lobster and Bill found a grouper. The lobster was out of season and the spear gun was on the boat, so all we have to show for our efforts is a few photographs of the lobster. On another beach near the boat, I found and kept several small conch shells. The larger ones had been harvested, so they had a hole knocked in their side. I am still waiting on finding areally big one without the hole.

We plan to leave tomorrow for Allen’s Cay to see the “wild” iguanas. From what I have read there are several adventure companies who bring folks out to see them. They also feed the things. I hope it is not too commercial.

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Julia and Josh Join Us

A sea fan fanning in the current.

Julia, josh, and Bill at Nippers

Sargent Major Fish surround us off the Fowl Cay reef.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Well we are again anchored in Marsh Harbor after seeing Julia & Joshua off this morning. We picked them up here in Marsh Harbor last Thursday. We have enjoyed a good visit with them.

Before Julia & Joshua’s arrival, Bill & I went south for a few days; not as far as we planned, but still a little bit south. We anchored off Tahiti Beach and enjoyed a nice beach walk. This is a white sand beach bordered by tall palm trees. It is a very pretty place. I used my underwater viewer (glass bottomed bucket) to look at the fish and shells in the shallows. We decided to head for Pete's Pub in Little Harbor the next morning, but the wind was dead on our nose, and it would have been a motoring trip, so we turned around after a couple of miles and headed for Tavern Cay. We anchored and went snorkeling at low tide. This reef was mostly rock with small fish, a few conch, and sea biscuits everywhere. Several days before, we had gone to Mermaid’s Reef off Marsh Harbor where we saw loads of small tropical fish. I am always amazed at the bright colors of all the fish.

We came back to Marsh Harbor the next day as the weather forecast was for thunderstorms for the next several days. We got our anchor down just as the first of the storms came roaring through. Once again we were able to fill our water tanks, spare jugs and our “après swim” garden sprayer with rain water. We like doing that because it is free! God does look after us! I did our laundry and grocery shopped in preparation for Julia & Joshua’s visit.

The day after Julia and Josh arrived; all four of us went over to Fowl Cay, a national park with a great reef. We anchored behind Fowl Cay, and took the dinghy around the island and out to the reef. The Friends of the Environment have kindly placed several mooring balls there for small boats. The fish were there in great abundance. Unfortunately, we couldn’t use Robert Bank’s spear gun since we were in a park. The spot behind the cay where we anchored the big boat was a little bouncy and not a place to spend the night, so after our swim we sailed up to Baker’s Bay. We took the dinghy over to Spoil Cay or as I like to call it, Shell Island. Julia and I both found a conch shell & several other good shells.

In the morning we took a looonnnggg dinghy ride out to the reef on the ocean side of the cay. The outward dinghy trip took us an hour! Once again the Friends have put out mooring balls for small boats. This reef had fish & beautiful coral of all types. I like the purple sea fans. They just sway in thecurrent and don’t have to do anything else – a nice life. In addition to all the colorful fish, we saw a large grouper, a nurse shark, and a barracuda. the return trip was as long as the trip out and wetter.

We came back to Marsh Harbor for the night because the forecast was for rough weather over night. In the harbor it didn’t amount to much and we were comfortable for the night. Sunday found us sailing to Man of War Cay; a very pleasant sail. We picked up a mooring in the eastern harbor and settled in for the evening. I needed a haircut; so believe it or not, I let Bill cut my hair! Julia supervised. I have shorter hair now than I have had in 10 years! Julia, Joshua, and I took the dinghy in to town, walked over to the Atlantic side of the cay, and walked on the beach. Joshua was going to snorkel, but it was a little rough. When we got back to the boat, he did snorkel around Irish Eyes and the nearby docks and tried the spear. He didn’t quite have the hang of it… the spear bounced off the fish.

Our next stop was to Guana Cay where we once again picked up a mooring. We all walked over to Nipper’s (www.nippersbar.com), a beach bar and restaurant with a gorgeous view of the ocean and a great pink sand beach. We walked down the beach to the High Rocks, and then took a short cut back to town. We had pre-dinner entertainment by a young boy on the boat moored next to us. He was the designated dinghy driver of the throttle wide open or off school, no sense of moderation. His older sister told him if he splashed her again on the way to supper she wouldslap him. I laughed until I cried.

Unfortunately, it was time to return to Marsh Harbor so Julia & Joshua could go home. The wind was predicted to be 15-20 in the morning, then 20-25 in the afternoon and 25-30 overnight. We had a great 6 kt sail back with just a partially unrolled genoa and nothing else. The wind did pick up, and last night was rock & roll, creak & groan, slap & splash all night long.

Bill and I plan to begin the trip south to the Exumas as soon as the weather improves. The wind is still about 20-25, and the weather people say the Atlantic seas are to be 18-24 feet from gales off the Carolina coasts. I can’t even imagine!

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Haynes, Laura, James, Sandra, and Betty Arrive

Dinner for all aboard Irish Eyes in Man of War Cay's Eastern (American) Harbour.

Haynes forward on the deck as we broad reach with all three sail up along Scotland Cay.

The view from the lighthouse across the entrance to Hopetown Harbour, across the town, and into the Atlantic Ocean beyond.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Bill and I are anchored in Marsh Harbor. We spent several days in Manjack Cay waiting for a good weather window to go through the Whale Cay Passage. To get from the northern part of the Abacos to the southern part you have to go out into the Atlantic Ocean, go around Whale Cay, and then come back into the Sea of Abaco. The meeting of the two bodies of water can be quite rough, what they call here a rage. It didn’t take too much whining to have Bill agree that we need a very calm day for our passage! We came through the Whale on Saturday, March 22. Was a very easy passage, but after our more exciting Gulf Stream crossing we were prepared for the worst, but we didn’t have any problems at all.

We anchored first in Bakers Bay. This is a spot on the northern end of Guana Cay. In the past this was a perfect place; no houses, no condos, no resorts, just a beautiful beach on the Abaco side, a path leading through the underbrush and palms inthe center of the island to a pink sand beach on the Atlantic side. The reef was just a small distance from the Atlantic Beach and was a great snorkeling place. Well, now it is a development with home sites ($2 to $12 million), hotel, and small boat dock. A large marina is under of construction with earth moving equipment digging a harbor in the middle of the island. We walked a mile or so along the Bakers Bay beach. Because the beach was a lee shore we moved the boat and re-anchored behind Spoil Cay which is sometimes called Shell Island. The shelling was great. If I had had a shovel we could have brought home a ton.

We headed to Marsh Harbor to pick up Bill’s brother Haynes and his wife Laura and to see James and Sandra Little and James’ sister Betty when their flight arrived. The Littles had chartered a 31 foot boat, Anticipation, from Hopetown. We had the perfect plan for meeting up but the weather didn’t cooperate. At just about the time the Little party was landing at the airport a strong squall blew through the harbor anchorage. One of the other cruisers said the wind was 47 knots! Bill watched our dinghy with outboard motor attached flip over. He said goodbye to his new bailer, tiller extension, and sponge as they floated away. We did keep the two life jackets that were trapped under the overturned dinghy. Once the storm was over we got the dinghy right side up and began pondering what to do with an outboard motor that had spent over an hour immersed in salt water. While it was still raining we had a radio call from James. They were here. Without a motor we couldn’t dinghy over to see them, so we made plans to talklater. We had lots and lots of advice, greatly appreciated, from others anchored nearby in the harbor. Bill took the motor apart while I held a bucket underneath to catch all the dropped parts. He drained the water soaked gas tank, rinsed the motor inside and out with fresh water, used about a quart of WD40 to dry it out, put it all back together, and lo and behold; it started! Haynes and Laura came as we were finishing up, so we told them to go to the Conch Inn Bar, have a drink and wait because we weren’t yet ready. A half hour later we finally retrieved our guests from the bar. All’s well that ends well; I suppose. (And another plus, we got the water tanks topped up in the rain.)

Tuesday we sailed over to Man-of-War Cay and picked up a mooring ball in Eastern Harbour. The Littles came from Hopetown and tied up alongside us. We had a great time walking around the settlement looking at the houses and beautiful flowers. We visited the local baker in her home kitchen, but unfortunately it was late in the day and she was sold out. All seven of us had cocktails and dinner aboard Irish Eyes. That night we all slept like babies. In the morning Haynes and James went back to the bakery for fresh warm cinnamon buns. Yummy!

The next day we sailed back to Bakers Bay and went ashore. We discovered we weren’t even allowed to sit in the chairs along the beach or venture beyond the high tide line. We had a great walk around the tip of the island to see the Atlantic. Thursday morning Anticipation went over to Treasure Cay to get some water while Irish Eyes sailed down to Hopetown Harbour expecting the second boat later. The waves were too much for Anticipation and they went to Marsh Harbor for the night. The Irish Eyes crew wandered around Hopetown and enjoyed a great restaurant meal ashore.

In the Abacos there is a wonderful VHF radio “show” each morning on channel 68 called The Cruisers Net. The weather report is given, headline news read, news of local happenings broadcast, questions asked and answered, requests made for help with boat repairs, and new arrivals and departures announced. During Friday morning’s Cruiser’s Net an announcement was made that local Methodist youth group was planning a mission trip to Copper Hill, Tennessee. James Little, ever the champion of Watauga Lake Sail Club, during the open mike time, invited the youth to come sail on Watauga Lake if they are in East Tennessee! Wouldn’t that be something? Irish Eyes’ crew was chuckling about James, the radio celebrity, when Anticipation slipped onto a mooring behind us. Both crews went to inspect the Hopetown lighthouse. The views from the top are fantastic. Unlike the lighthouses in the US, you can just climb to the top of this one unescorted. The kerosene mantle lamp, lenses, and clockwork to drive it all are all within reach with nothing more than a Do Not Touch sign to protect them.

Irish Eyes sailed back over to Marsh Harbor for the night. While Laura and I shopped a bit, Haynes and Bill went dumpster diving and picked up some roadside trash to get the parts to replace the lost dinghy motor tiller extension and bailer. As much as I hated to encourage them, they were successful. They did purchase a new sponge, but chose a $2.75 one from the grocery store instead of a $10.00 one from the marine supply store.

Bill saw Haynes and Laura off in a taxi to the airport at about 9:30am Saturday morning. A short nap time later the Littles radioed that they had taken the ferry from Hopetown and were standing on the dinghy dock. Bill and I came over to meet them, and we all had a great farewell lunch at a restaurant with a view over the harbor. We saw them off in a taxi to the airport and returned to Irish Eyes. I decided it was time to do laundry. With Bill’s help I got all the dirty clothes, soap, and fabric softener to the Laundromat for that adventure. Waiting on the machines to finish, I sat quietly knitting a sock. I ended up giving a mini knitting lesson to several local girls. It was a pleasant way to spend the time waiting for the wash to finish. We have clean clothes but need to top up the water and fuel tanks before heading south towards George Town. The weather is supposed to be very windy here at least the next few days, so we may be here for a bit.

[Bill's aside: As I expected the beer is running low. Haynes was kind enough to buy a case of the local Kalik at $48. Budweiser is higher. Ouch. Diesel is $5.65/gal in the marina.]

Touring the Northern Abacos

Adair walking on the beach at Sand Cay in the Double Breasted Cays.

The Signing Tree at Allens-Pensacola Cay where Bill added his fishing floats to the collection.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

It is the Bahamas and it is gorgeous.

We were up early to get out of West End with the tide under us. It is shorter to enter the Little Bahamas Bank through Indian Cay Channel than to go farther north to Memory Rock. The only problems are the water depth and the tricky navigation. Three feet of tide would solve the depth problem and the GPS/Chartplotter would make the navigation much simpler. A quick shower for both of us (first since Titusville - nice), breakfast, topped off the water tanks, and we were away.

It is 50 miles from West End to Sale Cay. The entire trip was in water 6 to 20 ft deep; a big change from the 2,000 ft in the Gulf Stream. The other big change was the waves; it was near flat. Broad reach – perfect sailing, autopilot on, navigation engaged, the boat sailing itself, nothing in sight except blue sky, blue water, and a few smudges of land on the horizon. Peace.

Since the wind was from the south, we anchored on the north side of Sale Cay (the word is key) and did nothing for two days. We just vegetated. It had been a month of moving the boat, and it was nice to read the January editions of Time magazine that had gone unread for the two months while we worked the boat south.

All good things must come to an end. A cold front came through, the winds changed direction, and we moved to the harbor on the south side of the island to escape the north wind and waves. Neophytes as we are, we were the last of the three boats to move. It was wet going around the island. Well, we took two days to recover from that adventure. What better excuse to do nothing? We did get out the dinghy and went to explore the mile or so of nearby beach on the uninhabited cay, checked out the ruins of some failed commercial enterprise, and walked on an abandoned road across the island. A few boats came and went while we were there, all in a rush to get somewhere I guess.

With the winds from the east, we took the opportunity to run up to Grand Cays, a collection of rocky cays, one inhabited by 400 or so people. We anchored off the town bulkhead and walked the roads in town which are 8 ft concrete golf cart paths taking in the school, two churches, and several shops that people keep in their houses. At Rosie’s (mostly a bar and pool room but with a few rooms for rent and a restaurant (the biggest business in town except BaTelCo) we made dinner reservations and placed our orders for supper. At the appointed time we dressed, took the dinghy over to town, and had a very nice meal in the restaurant as their only guests for the evening. Their conch and lobster are both delicious.

With all that excitement behind us, we pulled up the anchor in the morning and motored down to Double Breasted Cays. He says it would go for $100 in any gift shop in Myrtle Beach. I just say it needs to go. I found a Florida fighting conch shell. It is nice.

The wind changed direction, so we went back to Sale Cay. We were entertained by TowBoatUS towing a 70 ft motor yacht off the rocks then leaving for a 75 mile overnight towing trip to Green Turtle Cay where the boat’s props, shafts, and struts could be repaired. Big bucks at work.

From Sale Cay we sailed to Allens-Pensacola Cay. They are two uninhabited cays joined together by a hurricane years ago. Allens Cay has an abandoned missile tracking station left over from NASA’s pre-moon days and a “Signing Tree” on the ocean side beach. The tree is gaily decorated with mementoes left behind by sailors who have visited the island. Bill thankfully wrote our names, date, and boat name on his fishing floats and left them swinging from a high branch on the tree. If only we had had a WLSC burgee to add to the collection! The guidebook says the holding is not the best, so after two days anchored in the grass and sand bottom and with the front that destroyed Atlanta on the way, we moved the boat to the marina on Spanish Cay where we are tonight.

We are having lots of fun, getting in some reading, and I am knitting up a storm since we will be grandparents for the second and third times this summer. Julia and Josh are expecting June 24 and Ann and Michael August 30. The water continues to warm up so I will be swimming soon. Robert, I can learn how to spear fish. Bill saw a big fish in Allen Pensacola when he was underwater checking the anchor, but it was a shark, and he did not want to try to spear that guy!

We are headed south to meet Bill’s brother Haynes and his wife Laura in Marsh Harbor as well as James and Sandra Little on Easter Monday. Wish you were all here and a very Happy Easter to you all.

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Palm Beach, FL to West End, Grand Bahama

The beach at the John T. MacArthur Beach State Park in Palm Springs.

Down came the yellow quarantine flag and up went the Bahamas courtesy ensign.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

We did it!!! We are in the Bahamas!! We have made our first blue water passage!

We stayed anchored in Lake Worth (Palm Beach) till late yesterday afternoon waiting for a decent weather forecast and finishing our shopping. There is a small sand beach (I am talking small swash of sand here) a short dinghy ride from the Lake Worth anchorage. The little beach is at the base of a bridge carrying highway A1A. Just across the street from the bridge is a shopping center with a Publix grocery store, CVS, several restaurants, and a hair salon. I got my hair cut and colored. I was bemused by the old guys getting their hair dyed. They were actually consulting with a stylist about which shade(s) would be best! Across the street was a Frrench bakery, West Marine was several blocks away and the John D McArthur Beach State Park was close by. Actually, the park was about a 2 mile walk, but we of course went, dipped our feet in the ocean, walked on the sand, and toured the nature museum, then walked back generating a respectable set of blisters. Winter is the season for the Portuguese Man of War jellyfish. The beach was littered with them. Most interesting is they are the same shade of blue as the water,and they look just like some sort of medical waste. We also walked to the Palm Beach Gardens Mall. It was a very upscale mall with Tiffany’s, Chanel, and any other expensive jewelry and clothing retailer you can imagine. Oh yes, the flowers, the flowers in the gardens were great; only fake! Some garden.

The weather forecast for today was winds from the SW at 10-15 kt and seas 2-4 ft decreasing to 5-10 kt and less than 2 ft in the afternoon. It sounded perfect, so we moved south a few miles to the anchorage at Peanut Island adjacent to the Lake Worth Inlet. We set Bill’s watch to alarm at 3:30 am. We didn’t really need the alarm as the boat anchored behind was leaving too. I awoke to “little forward, rattle-rattle-rattle, now reverse, rattle-rattle-rattle, anchor is off the bottom”. The Ghost of Christmas Past never had so much chain dragging around. Unable to even fake sleeping, we got up and prepared to leave. Things were great except the stern light wasn’t working, but after a half hour of changing bulbs and fiddling with the wiring, it finally lit, and we left for sea in the pitch black dark. The seas were greater than forecast, and the winds instead of 10-15 were 15-20+. I never anticipated that when crossing the Gulf Stream I would need my foul weather gear! At one point I said I was buying an airplane ticket home if I had to cross the thing again! But, we made it!!

I have just watched a 100+ foot motor yacht tie up. Wow that is a big boat! It even goes sideways over to the dock.

The water was very blue coming across, almost navy. We saw a different kind of dolphin today, shorter and faster than the North Carolina sort, and some flying fish. We listened to a great fleet of boats calling the Old Bahama Bay Marina, previously known as the Jack Tar, on the radio after noon as everyone who left before sunrise was arriving at the same time. We held off a little and came in next to last. We have now cleared customs. The Master (Bill) had to attest that (among other things) we did not have any unusual mortality among the rats and mice on board since our last port. I had to wait on the boat until the “Master” returned from Customs and Immigration before I could step ashore. There are lots of boats here; even a Tanzer 10.5 in the next slip which doesn’t look a thing like our Tanzer 22, Canary.

We are now waiting for a respectable hour so we can retire for the evening and catch up on our lost sleep. We will keep up the blog when we have Internet Service. Wish you were all here to enjoy the nice warm weather. I have on shorts and shirt, but no shoes!

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Banana River to Lake Worth

Freshly baked bread cooling before it is ready to eat.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Well we have made it to Lake Worth (North Palm Beach), the last stop before crossing the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas! We will now start watching the weather closely. We need 15 knots of wind or less and no northerly component in the wind to have a pleasant crossing.

We woke on Tuesday in the Banana River to a fleet of kayakers or rowers swishing past. These were young guys with big shoulders who were kneeling on one knee and paddling very narrow kayaks. I was very impressed. We motored south to Fort Pierce with warm temperatures, and I baked a loaf of bread along the way. We anchored three times in the Ft. Pierce anchorage. Once we were too close to another boat, once we had about 6 inches of water under our keel (at high tide), and the third time was the charm.

The weather forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday was for a cold front to pass so we decided to high tail it for Stuart on the St. Lucie River where the anchorage was better protected. Along the way we saw a large flock of wood storks. Very impressive birds -- they were huge! We picked up a mooring ball for two nights at the South Point Anchorage which is run by the City of Stuart. The cold front didn’t arrive until early Wednesday morning. We had lots of lightning, rain, and wind. The rain stopped, and we took our newest dinghy (the fourth one) to the dinghy dock for a shopping trip to Publix. Bill is still not sure we have enough beer. Later in the afternoon we went into historic downtown Stuart to look at the shops full of stuff we don’t want or need.

Wednesday night’s lows were to be in the upper 30’s so the Red Cross opened two cold weather shelters. These shelters were for those who live in unheated, inadequately heated houses, or those living aboard unheated boats. We were tough sailors and stayed on board. It got down to 53 inside Irish Eyes, and we had highs in the 60’s today. It was been a long underwear day, again. We thought we were past that. Julia and Josh took away our winter coats, but thankfully we haven’t needed them.

We will watch the weather and do our final provisioning. I am excited!

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Daytona Beach to Titusville and the Manatees

Adair touches the back of a manatee.

A manatee swimming on its back takes a drink of water.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

We motored south on the ICW from St. Augustine to Daytona Beach without incident. Most of this section was a canal with houses sometimes on both banks, but sometimes with houses on one side and wildlife reserve on the other. We passed through 4 bascule bridges. All opened on demand so we didn’t have to piddle about waiting for an opening.

Thursday morning dawned quite gray and the weather forecast was for showers throughout the day. Bill suggested we spend the day at anchor. His reasoning was the rain and temperature were warm; in the 70s, not mentioning that West Marine was a short dinghy ride away. I readily agreed but didn’t make the trip to West Marine! A lay day suited me just fine.

We left our anchorage early on Friday morning to make sure we got to Titusville by evening. The ICW in this stretch goes through Mosquito Lagoon. We saw lots of small fishing boats and tons of birds but no mosquitoes. The developments along the way were mostly trailer parks for 50+ residents, a change from the $600,000 to $6M houses and condo developments! I think the guys with the trailers and small fishing boats probably have more fun. At least they come outside and play.

We arrived in the Titusville Municipal Marina and decided to refuel before going to our slip. As we were leaving the fuel dock this large blob of browny-green stuff was off to our port. The blob moved so I asked the dock man if that was a manatee. “Yes m’am” he said. We discovered that the marina was full of these strange creatures. All you have to do to attract one is wring out a cloth over the water, and they come running. Running is an exaggeration as they are very slow. The poor things are plain homely. They have a few barnacles, lots of algae, and occasional propeller scar along their backs… they are just fat round shapeless green things. We did have fun watching the manatees, and we escaped the $500 fine for giving them either food or water.

Julia and Joshua came from Winter Haven to spend the night on Saturday. They brought us a new bigger dinghy we had ordered and took away our winter coats and electric heater (good trade). We shopped for food and things we had forgotten filling Irish Eyes full. Bill still says we still don’t have enough beer. [A reasonable 2 beers per person per day times two people times 100 days equals 400 cans or 16 cases; WSM] We had supper at the Titusville landmark restaurant, Dixie Crossroads. The place is huge! The specialty is rock shrimp, so of course we had a few.

After short shopping trip for things forgotten and more beer [still not enough, WSM], we left Titusville headed south. Julia and Josh will have to unpack all our stuff from their car; poor things. They have our old dinghy and lots of long underwear! We headed south with all the Sunday boaters. We saw more boat traffic today than we have seen total on the rest of the trip. To make it a perfect day, we sailed on a broad reach under genoa alone for three hours at 5+kt this afternoon traveling without the drone of the engine.

We are anchored in the mouth of the Banana River in the town of Eau Gallie behind Dragon Point (although the once 200’ dragon is now in ruins, nothing but a pile of green concrete slabs). There is a little traffic noise now, but hopefully that will settle down as the evening progresses.

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Two Way Fish Camp to St Augustine

Hard aground (but upright) in the Brickhall River minutes before floating off.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Sunday, we had an uneventful trip from Two Way Fish Camp to our anchorage off Cumberland Island, GA. We arrived at Jekyll Creek about an hour early. Jekyll Creek is reported to have as little as 4 feet of water in spots. We threw out an anchor, ate lunch, and read or knitted while we waited for the tide to rise, and then started down the creek. We didn’t have any trouble with water depth. We crossed St. Andrew’s Sound with lots of wind and swell. Adair had started a loaf of bread while we were anchored and managed to finish baking it while crossing the sound.

We anchored in the Brickhill River behind Cumberland Island Sunday night. The wind died during the night, and we thought we had seen the last of the predicted cold front. Wrong! No sooner had we gotten underway in the morning than the rain started, there was a tornado watch, and NOAA issued a severe weather warning for the Cumberland Island area. Being the careful sailors we are, we dropped an anchor in a curve of the river to wait out the storms. Our trusty radar can see rain, and it let us know when the bad weather had passed. We weighed anchor and continued down the river to rejoin the ICW. Unfortunately, it was by then nearing low tide, and we found a five foot shoal with our five foot keel in the mouth of the river which became even shallower as the tide fell. Bill sounded around the boat, then dinghied an anchor out into deeper water. We waited for the tide to finish falling and then rise again. The skies cleared, we waited. We read or knitted, and waited. Finally, Irish Eyes floated off her bar and once again we were headed to Florida.

The wind was perfect after the weather cleared, and we actually raised a sail for a bit. We anchored off Fernandina, FL for the night.

Today’s trip to St. Augustine was uneventful. We saw lots of birds, white ibis, white pelicans, and ones we can’t find in our bird book. We are anchored tonight in the St. Augustine, FL harbor along with at least 50 other boats. Some look great; others look like they have been abandoned (or worse). This is as far south as we have travelled in Canary, our 22 foot sailboat. Navigating the junction of the ICW & the St. Augustine inlet on a February afternoon in a 34 foot boat is very different doing the same thing on a September Saturday afternoon in a 22 foot boat. We didn’t see but one other boat this afternoon. We both remember a flotilla of power boats zooming all around and rolling us in their wakes when we came here in Canary. It was much calmer today.

Life is really good!